Shawn Guy

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A Look At Online Communities

• Presented by
• Shawn Guy Harold Lee

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(No Transcript)
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Hey You.Yes You

• What do you think defines an online community?

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What are Online Communities???

• Online or virtual communities are the gathering
  of people, in an online "space" where they come,
  communicate, connect, and get to know each other
  better over time.

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Characteristics of Online Communities

• An aggregation of people
• Rational members
• Interaction in cyberspace without physical
  collocation
• Social exchange process
• Shared objective, property/identity, or interest
  between members.

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Examples of Online Communities
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Is it real?

• The great Zen master Chuang Tzu dreamt that he
  was a butterfly. When he awoke, he asked himself,
  "Am I a man who just dreamt about being a
  butterfly, or am I a butterfly who now dreams
  about being a man?"

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Why Do People Join Online Communities?

• An on-line community is one of the easiest ways
  to meet new people.
• More diverse conversations
• Race, Age, and Gender are not easily determined
• Low Risk
• Topical Discussions
• No geographical restrictions

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Protection Online Community

• Users feel a sense of protection not offered by
  face to face interaction
• This is done by the use of online moderators.
• Life without online communities

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Why is it not good to join online communities?

• Cyberspaces as Dream World
• Escape from reality
• Feel Powerful

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Its like a dream because

• Spontaneous generation
• Irrelevant of time and space
• Identity shifting

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Spontaneous Generation

• New objects can be created out of nothing
• There is no cost, no price to pay, no bartering!
• Its better than MAGIC!!!

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Irrelevant time and space

• In dreams, the conventional rules of space and
  time do not apply.
• They are flexible stuff to be manipulated.

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Identity shifting

• Its like having a controllable multiple
  personality
• Dissociation - experimenting with different
  aspects of their identity
• Can be someone who they cant in real life.
• Satisfy their fantasy

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Is this Schizophrenia?

• Definitely not for most people.
• But it IS a splitting of identity

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I dont think its good

• It is an addiction that serves as a substitute
  for life.
• Its a dream and dreams are not real!
• It teaches people wrong values
• E.g. no consequent on their action because of the
  anonymity
• E.g. not having to deal with consequences because
  one can simply click and log off
• They dont promote productivity

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Why dont they promote productivity?

• The accessibility of it makes it really
  distracting -- getting sidetracked or attempt to
  multitask.
• Cognitive Overload Theory
• Determined by number of elements that need to be
  attended to
• Our brain are not good at multitasking.
• Multitasking increase cognitive load -- lower
  capacity-- task becomes more difficult and
  concentration decrease -- increase sidetracking
  --unproductive.

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Economically Speaking

• Online communities provide jobs
• They are cost efficient
• Ex. YouTube, Wikipedia, E-bay

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The Psychology of Online Communities

• Anticipated Reciprocity
• Increased Recognition
• Sense of Efficacy
• Sense of Community

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Which identity is more real? Real world or
virtual world identity?

• One is not necessarily less real than the
  other.
• All are aspects of ones identity, although some
  may be hidden or unconscious aspects.
• MySpace vs. Facebook

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Discussion

• Do you think that the concept of online
  communities is valid compared to real
  communities?
• Where do you think the evolution in online
  communities will take us in the future?

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Conclusion what is the indication for future?

• Definitely becoming more popular
• Giving power to the powerless
• Boundary between virtual and real become blurry
• Will become real!